Orange Cars to Celebrate the New Year

In honor of the New Year and for no particular other reason, we offer you images of crazy orange cars that we like. I mean, some people celebrate all year round, right? What better way to do that than by driving an orange car?

Above is a BMW 3.0 CSL, probably a 1973, and maybe the most beautiful car the company ever made. Back in that era, I was lucky enough to find a 1967 2000 CS, immediate ancestor of the CSL, and had it for a couple of years. The car was painted a kind of barnyard brown, but was still a prize.

CSLs (L for the lightened versions) were hotted up and raced a lot with great success during the 1970s. In 1973, the company added some aero mods, including a big wing and front spoiler, which gave it the name Batmobile.

A 2005 supercar, the Vision SZR 4 was made in California by a company now building clean trucks as well as fast cars. Specs on the SZR are here.

Maybe the best-looking of the 1950s-era Cadillacs, the ’57 Series 62 convertible shown here had a 365-cubic-inch V8 with dual 4-barrel Rochester carbs and made 325 hp. Nobody cared a lot about fuel economy in those days.

The Saleen S7 got boosted to a twin-turbo system in 2007 and reportedly put out 750 hp to enable 0-60 mph times of 2.8 seconds and the quarter-mile in 10.5. Good way to get to your New Year’s party.

This one will cost you: a Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black (2009) in orange. The car’s 6-liter V12 biturbo engine is hand-constructed by a single AMG engineer. Performance is, well, out of sight. Details here.

Finally, a 1939 Studebaker Coupe Express that has been transformed by a hot-rodder’s art. You can see what the original looked like on Hemmings. A combination of pickup and coupe, it anticipated the Ranchero and El Camino by many years.

Thanks for posting the pic and info on the Vision SZR. Just wanted to inform everyone that the website for Vision Industries, LLC, the acutal company responsible for designing, engineering, and manufacturing the Vision SZR is http://www.visionk2.com. (Vision Industries, LLC does not build clean trucks.)

I’m with you jgoods, those older beemer sedans are favorites. We used a 2005 BMW M3 as a driver training car so I spent many hours in both seats, but I just love the way the 60’s – early 70’s beemers look, feel, drive and handle. Nothing heavy or hard core, just good, clean Bavarian fun.

I can’t say I’m a fan of orange for cars, I remember the hideous orange that GM was putting on Corvettes in the early 70’s. I think GM became the bastion for the tasteless crowd. I remember a 1970’s Chevy or Pontiac that my brother-in-law owned. It was a baby-puke green with a flourescent green vinyl roof (honest) and the most hideous lemon yellow and flourescent green HOUNDSTOOTH vinyl upholsery. A more clever person might claim the bought the car because they knew nobody would steal it, but he bought it because he liked it. He’s history now and hopefully the car is buried deep in the deepest landfill.

Oddly, my beloved first car, a two-tone red/white 55 chevy convertible, had an interior that was more orange and white than red and white. I’m not sure if the vinyl just came out that way or had faded a little.